University of Tennessee's research funding at $188M

New grant money will go to projects on energy, obesity

Solar energy, nuclear power and childhood obesity are among the research fields drawing new grant money and pushing the University of Tennessee's total research funding to an all-time high.

The university upped its funding to $188 million last year, $10 million more than the year before. The year prior to that, the total was $88 million.

The research includes partnerships with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and investments from the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy.

Some of the increase is a result of stimulus money doled out by federal agencies and the appointment of new governor's chairs over the last two years, who have brought with them their research projects.

The increase is encouraging, said university officials, but the school still has a long way to go to reach its goal of becoming one of the top 25 public universities.

Public universities currently in the top 25 have an average of $427 million in annual research expenditures.

The College of Engineering is seeing the most research dollars, and is uniquely positioned to lead the way, said Dean Wayne Davis.

The school received more than $50 million in funding last year, and about 22 percent of its research is in partnership with ORNL. It has jointly hired six new governor's chairs - distinguished scientists who partner with the national lab - over the last two years. Those professors have brought with them cutting-edge research projects and the potential to draw new grants, said Davis.

The school also doesn't have enough money in its base budget - its portion of university money - to pay for all of its faculty salaries.

"We've always had a general expectation that faculty, on average, do research and get research funding and contracts and recover part of their salary on those contracts," Davis said.

The college has steadily grown its own research dollars year over year, rising 27 percent this year over last and doubling in the last seven to eight years, Davis said.

Much of the expenditures stimulate the local economy - spent in partnerships with local companies and on local labor, including graduate students who move to or live in the area.

Economists have estimated UT Knoxville's economic impact as well beyond $950 million annually, according to the university.